


She Keeps Me Warm

by centreoftheselights



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Blizzards & Snowstorms, Car breakdown, Cheerleader!Sapphire, Cuddling & Snuggling, Episode 74 The Answer, F/F, Femslash February 2016, Huddling For Warmth, Jock and Cheerleader, Jock!Ruby, Stranded, Swearing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-18
Updated: 2016-02-18
Packaged: 2018-05-21 11:13:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,443
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6049492
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/centreoftheselights/pseuds/centreoftheselights
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ruby and Sapphire are stranded together in a snowstorm. Luckily, they have each other to stay warm.</p>
            </blockquote>





	She Keeps Me Warm

**Author's Note:**

> Part of my [Femslash February prompt fills](http://centrumlumina.tumblr.com/post/138495106946/femslash-february-prompts)! Prompt: Cuddling for Warmth.

Ruby turned the key again. The ignition sputtered and groaned.

“Come on, come on, come on,” Ruby muttered to herself.

But the engine didn't catch and the car didn't judder into life. They were well and truly stuck.

“Shit!”

Ruby threw open the car door and stamped around to the front of the car. As she opened the bonnet, copious clouds of steam billowed out.

“ _Shit_!”

Ruby slammed the hood closed again and sat back down, throwing a hefty kick at the front tyre on her way.

“We're stuck, aren't we?” said Sapphire from the passenger seat.

“My car is such a piece of shit,” Ruby grumbled. “I'm so sorry.”

“You couldn't have known this would happen,” Sapphire told her. “It's not your fault we're late for the game. It was my meeting which delayed us.”

“I promised I'd get you there.” Ruby gritted her teeth. “I'll call for a mechanic.”

 

Ruby went and stood on the roadside to make the phone call. Even though they'd been stranded for nearly fifteen minutes, no other car had driven past. Few cars were making this late-night winter drive between counties, and the rest of the netball team and cheerleading squad had left in the minivan several hours earlier.

Sapphire could hear Ruby shouting down the phone. She stomped back to the car and wrenched open the door, letting in another blast of icy air.

“We're stuck!” Ruby declared as she sat down. “They aren't going to send anyone until tomorrow morning!”

“I guess we aren't going to make the game, then,” Sapphire observed.

Ruby groaned loudly and buried her head in her hands.

“Don’t worry,” Sapphire said. “I'm sure they'll manage without us.”

“Without _me_ , maybe!” Ruby protested. “Anyone can sub for me – I'm not even a starting player every game. But how are the cheerleaders going to manage without you? You're the star!”

A faint smile curved Sapphire's lips.

“They'll have to manage,” she observed. “It'll be fine – and Ruby?”

Ruby glanced sideways at her.

“No-one on the team plays defence as well as you.”

Ruby stared at Sapphire, her dark cheeks turning slowly red.

“I – um…” Ruby couldn't seem to find words.

Sapphire looked out the window.

“Oh,” she said. “It's starting to snow.”

A light dusting of snowflakes was drifting down around them. Sapphire watched them for a few seconds, and Ruby watched Sapphire.

“Are you warm enough?” Ruby asked after a moment. Sapphire was dressed in her cheerleading uniform, short sleeves and knee-length skirt.

Before Sapphire answered, Ruby reached out to touch her hand.

“You're like ice!”

“Yes, I suppose I am.” Sapphire found herself suddenly starting to shiver.

“Here, put this on.”

Ruby struggled her way out of her letterman jacket and draped it over Sapphire's shoulders. It swamped her narrow frame, but she pulled it around herself appreciatively. Then, after a moment, she frowned.

“I don't want you to be cold,” Sapphire said.

“I won't be,” Ruby reassured her. “I run hot. See?”

She wrapped both of her large, black hands around Sapphire's slender brown ones. Staring into Ruby's eyes, Sapphire found that, for the first time she could remember, it was difficult to concentrate.

She forced herself to focus.

“We're going to be stuck here a while,” she said, softly. “We have to find a way to stay warm.”

To her surprise, Ruby smiled.

“No problem!”

 

This time when Ruby left the car, she was careful to open the door only as wide as she had to. She rummaged in the trunk of the car for a few minutes, throwing several items onto the back seat. Then she walked around to Sapphire's door, and threw it open.

“My lady,” she said, bowing down. “May I take you to your room?”

Sapphire giggled. “I can still walk, Ruby -”

“Your teeth are chattering,” Ruby pointed out.

Sapphire acquiesced. “Fine.”

She put her arms around Ruby's neck, and Ruby picked her up bridal style. Sapphire was only out of the car for a second, but she was glad to have Ruby's body heat close by. Ruby quickly transferred her into the back seat, and then clambered in after her and closed the door.

“We need to keep as much heat in as possible,” she explained, pinning up the tarpaulin sheets she'd retrieved from the boot. “My mom taught me how to do this when I first got the car. I've tied a signal flag to the aerial so people know we're in here, so we should cover the windows as much as we can. They lose a lot of heat.”

Sapphire tried to help, but her cold hands were clumsy and Ruby shooed her away.

“There are some blankets in the footwell,” she said, leaning over to cover the back windscreen.

Sapphire leant forward and found a couple of scratchy woolen rugs. She threw them both over herself, trying to spread them out as much as she could to cover all her bare skin.

“Sorry,” Ruby said, securing the last corner of the tarpaulin above their heads. “They're meant to be picnic blankets.”

“They'll keep us warm,” Sapphire said, calmly.

“I hope so,” Ruby agreed.

She collapsed on the seat, a little out of breath. Sapphire blinked at her. In only a couple of minutes, she had turned the back seat into a secluded den, covered on nearly all sides, with the only light coming from a narrow stripe of window left uncovered.

Ruby glanced at Sapphire, bundled up in the rugs.

“Mind if I join you?” she asked.

Sapphire held the blanket up so she could scoot over underneath it.

Ruby sat stiffly, seemingly hesitant to touch, but Sapphire had no such fears. She pressed herself close against Ruby's side, and buried her cold nose in Ruby's neck.

“You feel any warmer yet?” Ruby asked.

“Much better, thank you.”

They sat huddled together in the dark for a few minutes, watching the window slowly fog over as their bodies warmed the trapped air.

“I'm so sorry about this,” Ruby said quietly.

“We'll be fine.”

“I don't know how you can be so calm!”

“I'm here with you,” Sapphire said, as though that explained everything.

Ruby sighed. “I know. Everything seems to go wrong when I'm around.”

Sapphire laughed, not unkindly. “Are you kidding me?”

She found Ruby's hand under the blanket, and wove their fingers together.

“There's no-one I'd rather be stuck with than you,” Sapphire told her. “I'd much rather be out here in the cold than warm in the hotel with the rest of the team if you weren't there.”

“Sapphire…”

Ruby put her arm around Sapphire's shoulders, holding her tight.

“I know,” Sapphire said. “You just want to keep me safe.”

“No,” Ruby said, so quickly she surprised herself. “I just want you to be happy.”

There was a moment of quiet between them.

“Oh,” said Sapphire, softly.

“Oh,” Ruby agreed.

Sapphire leaned forward, so that her forehead was pressed against Ruby's. She could feel the warmth of Ruby's breath on her face.

“Sapphy?” Ruby asked softly.

“Yes?”

“Do you want to try kissing again?”

“Yes please.”

Their second kiss was much more careful than that impulsive, sudden smooch at the end of their last game had been. This time they didn't act out of desire alone, but with careful thought. Ruby put her hand on Sapphire's cheek, then removed it and put it on her shoulder instead. Sapphire turned so that she was sat half across Ruby's lap, and brushed her long fringe out of her eyes. They tilted their heads left, then right, then left again.

And then they finally kissed, and it was magical.

 

“I'm so glad you're here.”

…

“I wouldn't trade this night for the world.”

…

“This isn't like anything I've ever done before.”

…

“Do you want to do it some more?”

 

They dozed off together eventually, curled up in their warm, dark nest of blankets and each others' breathing.

They awoke to a sudden sound. Ruby sat up sharply, and Sapphire's head fell back against the seat, waking her with a start.

“Who's there?” Ruby demanded loudly.

There was a bright light shining through the uncovered strip of window. They both squinted against it, until the torch was turned back towards the face of the woman who had knocked.

“Excuse me?” she called to them. “Is everything alright?”

Ruby and Sapphire exchanged a look, and then Ruby slowly rolled down the window a crack so that they could talk. The blast of cold air it let in made them both shiver.

“Our car broke down,” Ruby explained.

“Oh dear!” the woman cried. “My name's Rose. Can I offer you two a lift?”


End file.
